


logic, or something of the sort

by zoyanazya



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 14 year old hermione granger gets up to some stuff, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Character Study, Completed, Emotional Manipulation, F/M, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, Manipulation, Manipulative Hermione Granger, No Beta, Read disclaimer lol, Romione if you squint but its toxic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:47:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,095
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28124862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zoyanazya/pseuds/zoyanazya
Summary: Hermione Granger is a good person, isn't she?
Relationships: Hermione Granger & Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	logic, or something of the sort

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally going to be Romione fluff, but it turned into something completely different. I was inspired by a combination of Hermione's "darker side" (leading Umbridge into the Forbidden Forest, cursing the list for the DA) with her logical side (figuring out the mystery of the Basilisk, discovering Lupin was a werewolf, realizing Harry's dream of Sirius was a trap in OotP). 
> 
> I don't endorse her actions here.

\---

Hermione Granger considered herself to be a perfectly capable person.

There were a myriad of reasons that led her to believe such a thing.

First, though she was just fourteen, she had seen a great many number of things that even many well-established wizards could hardly compare to. She’d followed Harry through the trapdoor and into the collection of life-threatening puzzles and tricks that lay beneath it. She’d figured out the mystery of the Chamber of Secrets that had plagued the school all through her second year. She’d effectively saved Ginny Weasley. And, though it felt considerably less important in the grand scheme of things, she had managed to pass all of her exams last year, even if it meant defying the laws of time and space.

Second, she found herself to be, if she were to put it simply, fairly logical. This was different to her than her basic intelligence. Intelligence was something you could acquire. It was something that could be earned by rereading _The Standard Book of Spells_ a dozen times and memorizing all the necessary incantations and hand motions. Logic was something entirely different. Logic was studying her classmates when they weren’t looking, trying to figure out what made their brains work the way they did. Logic was prying in everyone else’s secrets, and, admittedly, using them to her own advantage.

She’d begun to use this type of logic to justify her actions early last year. It started when she came into the habit of listening in at the door to the girl’s dormitory before entering. It was just supposed to be a practical thing, really. So she’d have an idea of what she was walking into. But this habit of listening, of watching, of analyzing, continued at the doors of classrooms, near the teacher’s lounge, in the conversations overheard from the Ravenclaw table (Anthony Goldstein cheated on the History of Magic exam, and Ella Westly smuggled in cigarettes from home), even going as far as spying on Harry and Ron when they thought she was in the library. It was all for good, anyways. She just had to understand what was going on. If she didn’t understand things, how could she make any meaningful decisions? It was just the same as studying or reading something, but it was analyzing a person instead of a book.

Once, before entering her dormitory, she’d heard Lavender crying about something through the door. This wasn’t an uncommon occurrence, and she normally wouldn’t think anything of it. But for some unknown reason, she’d listened for a few more moments, possibly trying to figure out the cause of the girl’s distress. Between the sobs, she was able to make out something about Ron, who Hermione knew Lavender had feelings for. Apparently, Ron had brushed her off on the way to Divination the day before, after she’d approached him for the millionth time that week. It didn’t bother her, not really.

But the more she thought about it (and she was able to think about it quite a lot in the span of a minute and a half), the more she was bothered by it. Lavender was chasing after Ron more and more these days. She admired him because of his encounter with Sirius Black and his knife. She thought he was handsome, or that’s what she whispered to Parvati during their late night gossip sessions. And Ron… Ron loved the attention. He could be inconsiderate towards Lavender at times, but he liked her flirting, and even proceeded to flirt back. He’d never even bothered to notice the circles under Hermione’s eyes or all the homework she helped him with, or even how she always saved him a chocolate and banana pancake (his favorite) when she arrived before him for breakfast. And now they were in another fight. Did that make it Lavender’s fault? Surely not completely, and yet… the thought couldn’t escape her mind.

Hermione took a deep breath, counted to ten and entered the room. She let her eyes fall to Lavender, who was curled up on the floor next to Parvati, blowing her nose in a tissue. Hermione pretended to be shocked at Lavender’s state.

“Lavender… Oh, what’s wrong?” she said, sitting down on the bed opposite them.

“She’s just upset at something Ron’s done,” Parvati explained. She passed Lavender another tissue.

Hermione pursed her lips. “I thought that might be it. He was talking about you all through lunch. Must have been angry about something.”

Ron had spent the entirety of lunch that day ranting about the injustice of the Chudley Cannons’ devastating loss to the Tutshill Tornados last Saturday.

Lavender dried her eyes and looked up at Hermione. “Really? W-what did he say, about me?”

Hermione gave Parvati a meaningful look. _Oh, the poor dear_ , it said, _she really has no idea. How unfortunate_. “Well, I’m not sure I should be the one to tell you...” she hesitated, “It doesn’t really matter, anyways. He’s just being an idiot, as always.”

“Just tell me. I want to know,” Lavender replied, her breathing still shaky from all the crying.

She hesitated for a moment. “Well,” she said, trying to add as much empathy as she could to her voice, “Just know that I, for one, think your face is very pretty, so it really doesn’t matter what he had to say about it. Because Parvati and I know you’re beautiful just the way you are, no matter _what_ Ron and all those other dumb boys say.”

Lavender burst into tears.

Parvati shooed Hermione out of the room and began stroking Lavender’s hair as she sobbed.

All that aside, Hermione knew she was capable of things beyond anyone’s expectations because that was all she knew how to be, therefore that was all she could be.

When she was finally clear of the stuffy girl’s dormitory with Lavender and her tears, Hermione smiled. She’d told Lavender that Ron said those things because she didn’t have another choice.

She’d done it all to help. Now Ron wouldn’t have to waste his time with Lavender, who was being quite sensitive anyway, and Lavender wouldn’t have to get her heart broken by Ron. It was all for the good of everyone, and Hermione herself was the epitome of goodness. She was the Brightest Witch of Her Age. She’d saved the whole school with her smarts and her bravery, for not one but two years in a row. She was every teacher’s favorite. She was surely going to be Head Girl.

Hermione Granger was a perfectly capable, perfectly good person.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I really hate reading about exclusively negative female relationships in a work, and the goal of this wasn't to have Hermione treat Lavender like crap because of a boy, even though that's kind of what ended up happening. It probably doesn't matter to most people, but it was important to me as I was writing this to know that none of Hermione's actions towards Lavender stem from a hatred of Lavender herself. Logic is supposed to be a What If? character study, and should highlight some of Hermione's flaws in her relationship with Ron and her relationship and idea of herself, without creating unproductive and unnecessary conflict between two female characters. Honestly, the idea of writing something completely new with Lavender as a focus point is really intriguing to me. A lot of this is just because JKR (ew) didn't write much depth for Lavender beyond her relationship with Ron, and ultimately reduced her to being silly and stupid.


End file.
